This invention relates generally to enclosures for receiving and dispensing a web (e.g. take-up and supply boxes for collecting and dispensing paper or film) and, in particular, to light-tight paper-dispensing and paper-receiving enclosures used with phototypesetting systems.
Many prior-art phototypesetting systems utilize two enclosures, one for supplying or dispensing paper to the typesetter from a supply reel contained in the enclosure, and the other for collecting the dispensed paper onto a take-up reel. In certain of these prior-art systems, to be able to produce multi-column copy, it is required that the paper travels in two directions (i.e., in a forward direction from the supply reel to the take-up reel along a prescribed optical path enabling the phototypesetter to produce a column of copy, and in a backward direction from the take-up reel in preparation for production by the phototypesetter of a subsequent column of copy). One such system capable of producing multi-column copy is the Model 1200 Quadritek phototypesetter, manufactured by the Graphic Products Division of Itek Corporation.
Typically in such prior-art phototypesetting systems, the paper becomes folded in accordian-like fashion when its direction of movement is reversed preparatory to producing multi-column copy. This folding of the paper often causes the emulsion that is typically on the surface of such paper to become abraded, resulting in inferior quality of the type produced at or in the region of the fold or abrasion. Furthermore, the accumulation of folded paper often causes non-uniformity in paper tension again degrading the quality of copy produced. What would be desirous and useful, therefore, is an enclosure system that would eliminate the problems of emulsion abrasion and non-uniformity in paper tension, by making paper folding unnecessary when producing multi-column copy.